Sunday, July 14, 2013

Deep into the forest lies an old watermill, it is not a run down, but
a very well maintained building. Someone lives here, but they are usually
not showing up when people are passing by. They probably want peace and
quiet like we do when we seek out into those quiet desolate places.

I had been here by the old watermill at Fussingø many
times in each season through the years but on a day
in June this year
one of the inhabitants of the house was sitting outside the door - a
magnificent cat with a thick furry coat. The cat was looking through me
with golden eyes like I was not existing - looking across the
yard down to the lake in a calm and dignified posture. I took a few shots, and the cat did not react in
any way. What a proud, independent soul!

This was the Norwegian Forest cat,
which is now a very popular breeding cat. Many myths and legends are
attached to this pretty cat-creature.

The Danish born priest Peter
Clausson Friis lived in Norway for many years; together with his priest
work he was very occupied by nature - and he described the animals he
met in the Norwegian nature. In 1559 he began writing about the lynx. He
divided the lynx into three categories: wolf-lynx, fox-lynx and cat-lynx. It was later discovered that all three belonged to the same
species, but what he called the cat-lynx might have been the Norwegian
Forest cat. It is very likely since there are many similarities between
the forest cat and the Norwegian lynx. The most apparent is that they
are both high-legged big cats with a big fur collar and hair upon the
tip of the ears, the socalled tufse - and they both like water. The
stories about swimming forest cats catching fish in lakes and rivers are
numerous. The forest cat used exactly the same method as the Norwegian
lynx. These similarities between the lynx and the forest cat have once
and again caused that people have taken a great interest in the forest
cat.

There are many cats in the Norwegian country settlements, but in
the oral handovers and fairy tales the big longhaired cat is always
mentioned. Because of its size and the lynx-like characteristica many
people thought that it was a mix of dog and cat - or more commonly that
this cat was a half lynx.

In the Norwegian fairy tales of Asbjørnsen and
Moe the forest cat appears several times. It is called a *Huldrekat - and
is described as a forest cat with a thick bushy tail. The fairy tales
and the legends are not the only proofs of the big natural presence of
the forest cat. In 1912 the Norwegian author Gabriel Scott wrote a very
popular children's book called Sølvfax (Silver Fax).The main person is a
forest cat called Sølvfax.

*Huldre is a forest spirit ( see wikipedia).

"Huldra's Nymphs" by Bernard Evans Ward (1909)

The Norwegian forest cat is adapted to survive Norway's cold weather. Its
ancestors may include black and white shorthair cats, brought to
Norway from Great Britain sometime after 1000 AD by the Vikings, and
longhaired cats brought to Norway by crusaders. These cats could have
reproduced with farm and feral stock and might have eventually evolved
into the modern-day Norwegian Forest cat. The Siberian and the
Turkish Angora longhaired cats from Russia and Turkey respectively, are
also possible ancestors of the breed. Norse legends refer to the
skogkatt as "a mountain dwelling fairy cat with an ability to climb sheer
rock faces that other cats could not manage".

Many people believe that the
ancestors of the Norwegian Forest cat served as mousers on Viking ships. The Norwegian Vikings had the forest cat as a domestic cat, and in their
expeditions around the world they brought the forest cat with them on
their ships. This should be the cause of the large numbers of half-wild
longhaired cats in Normandy.

The forest cats lived in the Norwegian
forests for many centuries, but were later prized for their hunting
skills and were used on Norwegian farms. Norwegian Forest cats would
continue acting as mousers on Norwegian farms until they were
discovered in the early twentieth century by cat enthusiasts.

The Norwegian Forest cat is now a popular breeding cat in many countries. The cat has a quiet voice but
can develop a loud voice if kept in a house wit a dog. They are friendly
and intelligent and are good with people. They have a lot of energy and
can be very demanding of attention. Those cats that live primarily
outdoors become swift and effective hunters, but the breed can also
adapt to indoor life. The cats usually live to be 14 to 16 years old. As they
are heavy-boned and tall they require more food than most other domestic
breeds. Males are considerably heavier and larger boned than females. There have been kidney and heart diseased reported in the breed. The breed has also been known to suffer from hip dysplasia which is a rare partially hereditary disease of the hip joint. The breed along with several other cat breeds can be poisoned by things that are considered safe to humans.

But no matter, I had a lovely meeting with a beautiful forest cat in the midst of the forest. I hope I'll see it again the next time I'll go there.